Ghost Story: A Dresden Files novel (Dresden Case Files) [Hardcover]

As you might expect with a book that starts at the end of someone's life, a portion of the story will revolve around what came before. The main part of the novel is focused on what recently happened to Harry, but what I wasn't expecting and was delighted by was the call-backs to very early moments, characters and places that were scattered throughout the book. I'm a fairly big fan of the series and I spotted a few moments of serendipity, but I'm sure there are probably some less obvious Easter eggs for the super fans out there.

After 12 novels and an anthology, I have a fairly good idea of who Harry Dresden is. We already know a fair amount about his difficult and troubled childhood, but in Ghost Story we find out about an event that was an important crossroads from his past. This event shaped Harry, it put him on the path that led him to becoming the man we all know. It could have gone very differently and he could have given in to his darker nature and become the sort of pupil Justin DuMorne always wanted. It was perhaps one of the most important moments from his childhood that we didn't know about, until now. This is just the first of many touches that make this a truly remarkable book and a fantastic series. In the last couple of books there have been lots of pay-offs for long time readers and there were a few more in Ghost Story.

Harry is gone, but the world has not stopped turning, the monsters have not packed up and gone away just because he is no longer in the fight. It was very satisfying to see the long-term effects Harry has had on those around him in the city. But his legacy goes far beyond the people he personally saved, and even though the story is still told from Harry's perspective, there were some scenes where he was just an observer. People spoke about him without knowing he was there which often left Harry surprised by how others saw him. It was quite an eye opening experience that I think will affect him to a small degree in the future.

A good portion of time has elapsed since Harry's sudden departure at the end of Changes. This means we, and Harry, are playing catch up and need to get up to speed on what's happened to his city. His friends have been badly affected by his absence, some more so than others, but they've reached a place where they can still move forward together. Life is much harder without him around, some difficult choices and unsettling decisions have been made, but they were deemed necessary at the time. He might not agree but he has to accept them, because he can't affect events anymore. As expected this makes it incredibly frustrating and painful for Harry to see his friends suffering and have no way of helping them. Once again this novel shows that creating realistic and well rounded characters, that you deeply care about, is one of Butcher's greatest skills as a writer.

As much as Changes was a turning point for the series, Ghost Story is a turning point for Harry and many of the main cast. Events large and small have changed the characters over a dozen books and I loved seeing how they have grown up over the years and evolved. Some of these changes have been painful and irreversible, but it made the story all the more rewarding for the loyal reader.

The stories from this point forward in future novels will not be the same. The series could not have kept going in the same vein indefinitely without trying to top itself with every new book, and it would have become ridiculous. Ghost Story is a sort of interlude for reflection before we start a new chapter in the ongoing series.

The last three books before Ghost Story were building towards something epic, which we saw in Changes, where events came to a head and Ghost Story deals with the fallout, global and local. Over the last few books Harry has continued gaining power as well as acquiring new abilities and allies. One thing that became apparent in Ghost Story was that his approach to dealing with people and conflict has changed. He isn't a shoot first, ask questions later guy, but he has moved a little more in that direction of late. Being rendered powerless brought this to light and I believe that in the future we will see a different Harry, one changed in his approach, because up to now he has always been fairly short sighted.

If he sees someone getting beaten up he will just wade in, no questions asked. That's not enough anymore. Harry is playing a very different sort of game now. He's been the fulcrum of too many events, he's friendly or involved with too many significant powers to fade into the background. He's a major player now, whether or not he likes it or wants to be. The stakes are much higher, the consequences much more far reaching and he's now responsible for a lot of other people. He hates the Merlin for being a big picture guy, for being someone will sit and do nothing while a few people suffer because in the long run it may save hundreds. I don't think Harry will quite be that cold and calculating, but I think he will be someone who treads more carefully and who thinks about the big picture and the long-term effects of his actions.

What all of this added up to for me was another extremely emotional and a very rich reading experience. Butcher rewards his readers, he trust them and doesn't try to short change them, but he also doesn't tie up everything in a neat bow at the end of any novel. Actions have consequences, characters die and don't come back, good people turn bad, the bad can be redeemed and deals with devils don't come cheap. The world is made of grey, but Harry is someone who does his best to see it in black and white. He doesn't always succeed in his missions, despite his best attempt, as we see a few times in Ghost Story, but that will never stop him trying. That's just who he is and that's why he's had such a huge impact on so many people.

The Dresden Files is a consistently gripping and extremely well written and addictive series. I think it is the best urban fantasy series being published and I am always desperate to read the next volume and just need to know what happens next. I've been living with these characters for over ten years, and have read more adventures about them than any other series of novels on my bookshelf. I keep coming back for so many reasons, the characters are fascinating and well rounded, the stories are amazing, pacy and gripping, they're incredibly inventive and Butcher does a great job of taking myths and folklore and turning them into something completely his over. These aspects and many others add up to make a great series.

Butcher's success and loyal fan base is well deserved and the books have actually been getting better, richer and more rewarding. Changes was the end of one major chapter, and Ghost Story is the start of what comes next, but the story of Harry Dresden is far from over and I can't wait to see happens next. If you're not reading this series and you enjoy urban fantasy then you're missing out on something brilliant.

**Warning: As this is the thirteenth book in the series this review may contain spoilers for those who have not read earlier books, especially Changes, the book immediately preceding Ghost Story.**

I am a Dresden fangirl, so you can just imagine the glee I felt when the latest instalment of the Dresden Files arrived for me to review. Like many fans of the series, I had been hanging in limbo after the shocking end of the last book, Changes. Even though Ghost Story's release was delayed I wasn't disappointed when finally I dived headfirst into the book.

The cover itself is not particularly remarkable, but it's the smaller details that the designers have included that made me smile. Harry is kneeling next to his own grave dressed in his usual duster and holding his wizard's staff. The grave and gravestone were gifts Harry received from an enemy in an earlier book in the series. The gravestone reads: Here lies Harry Dresden. He died doing the right thing. It's a detail that I, and many fans, really appreciated.

Jim Butcher's Dresden Files was my gateway drug to the world of Urban Fantasy, a genre I love. I enjoy his sense if humour and the mysteries he gets his characters involved in. Butcher has created a vast world that he continually builds on. I love the fact that he brings in elements from previous books so that the series as a whole builds on itself, as opposed to being a series of only vaguely related stories. The paranormal entities in Dresden's world are familiar, but Butcher manages to add a unique twist to them that gives them a fresh feel.

Butcher's characters feel like family to me. Many of them started out as secondary characters and have developed and grown through the books to become characters that directly affect the plot. The thing that most impressed me about Ghost Story was that Harry was forced to act without his usual weapons and allies behind him. It means that he had to adapt to his new situation and I really appreciated that - Butcher is not afraid to challenge his characters. Through Ghost Story we are also shown more of Harry's past that had been hinted at in previous books. It rounds out his character even more. The events of Ghost Story take place six months after the end of Changes, even though it feels like the blink of an eye for Harry. A lot has happened in that time and Harry's allies have had to fight a new war without him. It's taken a toll on the group and it was interesting to see the shift in dynamics without Harry.

Ghost Story marks a new direction for the Dresden Files and I am very excited to see what Jim Butcher has in store for me next.

As I nearly always do when reviewing Dresden Files novels I will start with a warning. If Ghost Story is the first Dresden novel you've contemplated buying then don't. Go back to the first novel, Storm Front (Dresden Case Files), and work your way from there. Trying to engage with the Dresden universe for the first time via Ghost Story, Changes (Dresden Files) or any of the last five or six books would be like trying to join a very involved debate halfway through and with no idea what the original subject was. The Dresden Files are great but need to be tackled in order from the beginninhg.

If you're already a fan of Harry, Murphy, Mouse, Molly, Thomas, Butters, Queen Mab and myriad of characters who populate the universe that Jim Butcher has crafted over 13 novels then you'll enjoy Ghost Story as much as I did. I'd doubt however, that you'll be totally blown away by it.

Sure, it resolves the shock ending of Changes and I will admit that the ultimate answer to the question of who shot Harry and more importantly why is one I did not see coming at all. The whole 'Harry-as-a-Ghost' concept also shakes up proceeding considerably and gives the book a somewhat unique feel within the series as a whole. Plus it keeps you guessing right up to the end about how the hell Harry will get out of the predicament of being deceased, or whether he will at all. Add in the usual fine character work, some decent action and the opportunity for some hitheto secondary characters such as Morty and Butters to come to the fore and you have a solid entry in the series.

What it doesn't do however, is reach the heights that series is capable of. After the series changing events of 'Changes' this latest adventure feels a bit like Jim Butcher catching his breath. Whilst the whole 'Harry's Dead' thing is a good hook it feels like Butcher is using it partially as a smokescreen to distract readers from the fact that not a lot really happens over the course of Ghost Story. The primary threat Harry and his friends encounter is a dangerous but not a particularly significant one. Its more about how they'll defeat it rather than will they. The fact that Butcher has to pad out the narrative with a significant number of flashbacks to young Harry (none of which add much to our understanding of Dresden after 13 novels) and a whole subplot involving a Fagin-esque sorceror tells you how thin the main plot thread actually is.

The real purpose of Ghost Story seems to be setting up a number of new, larger story arcs for Harry and other characters. With the destruction of the Red Court in Changes Harry was left without a primary foe to fight. It would seem that the Fomor, glimpsed in Side Jobs: Stories from the Dresden Filesand much discussed here but relegated to a background role, are to be that new foe. At the same time the book allows key characters such as Murphy and Molly to be given make-overs that shift the dynamics between them and Harry, introduces new ones such as Fitz and his crew who seem set to become Harry's equivalent of the Baker Street Irregulars, and it allows the author to address if not tie up few loose ends such as Harry's recruitment as Mab's Winter Knight.

All of which is fascinating to long standing fans of the series such as me, but doesn't make for the most high-octane entry in the series. Ghost Story feels simultaneously like a throwback to earlier Dresden Files, with their comparatively self-contained tales, and somewhat like a filler episode before the next epic battle commences. Having become used to earth shattering, grand adventures and complicated plot threads stretched out over multiple novels, it all seems like a bit of an anti-climax.

So not a mis-fire but also not up there with the best of the Dresden Files. It does however, whet the appetite for what's to come for Harry, his friends and his frenemies. Roll on the next volume.